Revisiting the APC saga

TWO books that I read in the eighties remain reference points in my attempt to understand developments in Nigeria. The first, Anatomy of Corruption, written by the late Onigegeara of Ibadan, Mr. Labanji Bolaji, remains a classic on corrupt practices in Nigeria. The second, How to be a Nigerian, by Peter Enahoro, is a witty commentary on living in Nigeria. I’m yet to read his The Complete Nigerian which I understand is a sequel. All good books written to throw light on the dark affairs in the country point in the direction that there are peculiar Nigerian ways of doing things, even when there are supposed to be universal standards.

Registration of political parties is principally governed by provisions of sections 222-224 of the Constitution and the Electoral Act 2010. The prerequisites are so general, and as applied and interpreted by the Supreme Court in the National Conscience Party, NCP, no one or body could add to those conditions spelt out in the supreme law of the land.

The hurdles deliberately erected on the path of the All Progressives Congress (APC), could not have been altogether unexpected. It must have been an ambush expected by all analysts and even the leadership of the mega party. In the peculiar Nigerian manner, it was obvious to me that the ruling party at the federal level would attempt to throw spanner in the works. So, when two other parties made claims to the acronym APC, I was not surprised. The amazement was that leaders of the original APC appeared not to have anticipated the development.

Last week, the other APC, the African Peoples Congress that rushed to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to get registered as the original APC was making its way to satisfy guidelines from INEC, made for the courts to reverse the decision of the electoral body to deny registration to an association that apparently ignored legal procedure in a bid to stop the All Progressives Congress in its track.

There are parallels in history. In the Second Republic, when four political parties that had a relationship in a coalition made a bid to combine efforts in confronting the National Party of Nigeria at the polls in 1983. The plan was scuttled mainly by employing the services of enemies within the proposed new party. The ruling party cleverly employed age-long suspicion between the Unity Party of Nigeria’s leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Nigerian Peoples Party’s Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe. The resultant Progressive Party’s Alliance, PPA, a coalition, could not work as effectively as a merger would have. History must not be allowed to repeat itself 30 years after that episode.

The challenge is for the original APC leaders to remain focused, anticipate that there would be genuine hurdles to scale and obstacles planted by the enemy. It is needless making an enemy of INEC. So far, I see nothing wrong with the steps taken by the national electoral body. A body known as APC sent it a letter of intent to get registered. The commission received the correspondence and kept it in view pending the time the full commission would meet to review the documents attached. Meanwhile, the AfPC made public its letter and sparked a row. What did anyone expect the commission to do? Take notice of a press conference by another body by the same acronym even when it was yet to approach the body? At the appropriate time, the commission rejected the African Peoples Congress.

It is not yet over. The rival APC has approached the courts for intervention, arguing that INEC lacks the power to turn down its bid. It is clear that the bid is targeted at the authentic APC. The massive show of putting 30 lawyers on display last week is for effect. I am yet to see anyone on the AfPC roll with the financial or political clout that could attract 30 lawyers. But, the game plan, it seems, is make the real APC stumble, stutter and scatter. The next step is apply for an injunction to restrain INEC from registering any other body by the acronym while the case is pending. If that is obtained, INEC would be bound to obey.

If AfPC is able to obtain the order, it could then instruct its counsel to stall judgment for as long as it could, thus frustrate the bid by the progressives to achieve early registration ahead of 2015. It is obvious the direction from which the stones are being thrown, but a shouting match would achieve nothing. It is time leaders of the APC engage their strategists to pre-empt these moves.

There could be no better time to have a mega party to confront the behemoth at the centre. But, it takes discipline, hard work, fidelity and single-minded pursuit of the goal.